The key to happiness? Self-esteem

It is often said that money can't buy happiness, although there are plenty of hard-up people who find it difficult to believe.

Now psychologists claim to have the proof. A study has found that being rich and beautiful has little to do with over-all contentment.

Instead, it concluded that we are happiest when we feel in charge of our own lives; have high self-esteem; enjoy a close network of friends and family; and believe we are doing well, rather than being incompetent or ineffective.

To reach their conclusions, the psychologists at the University of Missouri-Columbia interviewed 700 students in the U.S. and Korea.

The students were asked their most satisfying experiences.

They were then asked to explain why these events had made them happy. Money was mentioned least as a reason.

'Being true to yourself'; being competent at activities; having close bonds with other people and feeling respect for yourself topped the list.

The research findings echo those of Michael Argyle, emeritus professor of social psychology at Wolfson College, Oxford, who has drawn up an Oxford Happiness Inventory to measure contentment.